Angela Colsin's Blog, page 7

Book Review: Light of Dawn by Angela Colsin

Light of Dawn just got a 4 star review from Harlee Reads@Wordpress! Thank’s you SO much Harlee! I’m thrilled that you enjoyed the story! :)

Title: Light of Dawn (The Crucible Series Book 2)

Author: Angela Colsin

Rating: 4/5

Hired to find a curse box, the draconian mercenary, Ulric Dra’Kai, is directed to seek out the human Charlotte Mulligan who’ll lead him to his ultimate goal. Expecting to get information from her with ease, Ulric instead meets a determined mortal who refuses to be intimidated—and draws him in like no other.

As that attraction grows, he comes to believe Charlotte may be his destined mate, but there’s a problem—he’s immortal, making that impossible. Answers could possibly lie in the dormant supernatural side of Charlotte’s lineage, but getting them proves difficult when vampires are out for her blood.

Charlotte thought she was an ordinary human living an average life until receiving an odd package in the mail containing a unique trinket box. Soon after, she’s attacked by vampires and swept up in a hunt by a…

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New Review: Blue Moon @ The Romance Reviews

Blue Moon just got a new review with four stars! :D

From the review: “The author makes it so easy to connect to the characters and really makes me want to spend more time with them. I am definitely interested in reading more books by Angela Colsin.” –LiaL, The Romance Reviews

Thanks so much LiaL! I’m super glad you enjoyed it!

Learn More About The Crucible Paranormal Romance Series

Books • Book Reviews • The Series • About the Author • Hunter’s Moon Excerpt

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I Promised Myself I Wouldn’t Do This – The Troubles of Mary Sue

When I started running this blog about four years ago, I made myself a promise. It was a simple promise stemming from my past work in the fan fiction world where, for those of you who don’t read fan fiction, things can sometimes get ugly between writers and readers. Arguments could pop up over just about anything, from canon characters’ personality traits, to their relationships with other characters. It seems like everyone interprets the source material differently, and sometimes, the views of writers and readers just don’t mesh.

As much as I hate to say it, another common argument you’ll see is over a writer’s original characters, specifically if they’re female, and most especially if they’re in a romantic relationship with a canon (male) character. The judgments passed on these characters can be so extreme that some writers tuck tail and run, bullied out of something they love to do for no other reason than someone didn’t like a fictional character they’d created.

And in the majority of these cases, you’ll find the name Mary Sue.

Let me reiterate a point I made above; I don’t want to talk about this. If you don’t actually know what a Mary Sue is, then don’t blame yourself because no one knows what a Mary Sue is. The name itself is derived from a character created for a Star Trek story written in the early 1970’s, and has since been widely used to describe poorly written (and majorly female) characters. Yet the actual parameters that define what constitutes a poorly written female character have never been clarified, largely because it depends upon the writer’s skill level at hashing out a story from the start, let alone their ability to flesh out a character that fits into the mood and atmosphere created in their tale.

So again, no one knows what a Mary Sue actually is. Ask ten different people for a definition, and you’ll get ten different answers, some of which might be similar, but overall, it’s just a character someone’s taken exception to for X,Y,Z reasons. This means the name has been thrown out far too many times to count, to the point that it’s lost all definition, and on many occasions, it’s used solely to shame authors away from their craft. Some people claim it only has to do with writing self-insert characters for wish fulfillment, and I find myself wondering how, precisely, self-insertion and wish fulfillment is gauged when I’ve seen some very well developed characters (who are nothing like their authors mind you) bearing the weight of this otherwise negative term.

But why am I bringing this up here if I promised myself I’d leave this overused (and what I hope is becoming an archaic) token in the dust where it truly belongs? Well, I’m getting to that. So here’s a slight subject change, but trust me, it relates.

I just read a pretty well articulated article about the Seven Deadly Sins of writing paranormal stories. Lust, Greed, Sloth, Gluttony, Pride, they were all there with a point listed for each on how it could have a negative impact on the quality of your book. I found myself agreeing with most points as well–until I got to the last one, which was Envy.

And that entire point was “Don’t write a Mary Sue.”

Everything came to an abrupt, screeching halt. Had I somehow stumbled onto some salty fan person’s website? I glanced at the URL to see, surprised to find that I was actually on Writer’s Digest.com. Really? Some author on Writer’s Digest is employing this token? I next checked the date on the article to find that it was several years old now, but even still, the derision I felt in response to reading this final point and learning who’d posted the article from the start suddenly grew into offense.

I find this signaling out of female characters to be largely problematic. By using this term, even if all you’re trying to do is pass out the good advice that your female characters need to be given more substance, you’re still passing a judgement on female characters alone without stating that male characters need to be held to the same standard, insinuating that they’re easier to write because they do much less wrong. I’ll be the first to admit, there is nothing worse than reading a main character who can do no wrong, one who is so perfect that they have absolutely nothing to fear. Why? Because if they can’t be bothered with worrying about the troubles in their own life, then I won’t get invested because I have no reason to be concerned for them, either.

Yet this goes for both female and male characters.

The line that got to me the most in this description was, “Put some dents in her armor and let the hero call her on her bullshit once in a while.” Pardon me for a moment, but I’ll have both my male and female characters calling each other out on their bullshit when the situation calls for it, thanks. I will give them both flaws, skills, fears, and aspirations, and I will not apologize for offering one character any specific set of traits just because of what’s between their legs or what gender they identify with.

I understand the intentions here, that we need to write better characters. But this message needs to be for characters all across the board, and signaling out female characters specifically, as if there’s something inherently wrong with them that requires a stricter, or perhaps differing judgment than what male characters receive is, quite frankly, offensive. I also take exception to the term “Strong Female Characters” (I’ve written an article about this before) and posted a statement on my facebook page not long ago saying sure, “strong women” are awesome. But if we keep saying it like that, it becomes these two harmful things:

1. Just another ideal women have to live up to if they want to be accepted in society.

2. An insinuation that women aren’t already strong to begin with.

So stop adding the word “strong” as if we mean nothing without it.

There’s very likely a lot more I could say on this subject, and I probably will in time. But for now, I’ll conclude this by saying that I find the continued double standards women from all walks of life have to endure on a daily basis despite the progression of liberation both tiring and baffling, and I long for the day when we’re all able to see past them.

I’d love to hear thoughts on this topic! In the meantime, here’s hoping everyone’s having a great week, and that the weekend arrives quickly!

Learn More About The Crucible Paranormal Romance Series

Books • Book Reviews • The Series • About the Author • Hunter’s Moon Excerpt

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The Busiest Bee

My poor, poor neglected blog. I think it’s been two weeks since I made an actual post here, but as it turns out, my time has been hugely divided between my day job, writing, and lots of little things in between, such as my birthday and so on.

I’m sure any professional blogger out there would scoff at my lack of ability to add one more task to the list and make sure my blog here remains updated on a consistent basis. But when you have obligations you can’t take care of by writing a long, well thought out post like I wish I had more time to do, sacrifices have to be made, and sadly, regular blog updates with meaningful posts is one of them.

The thing is, if my time is cut down, and I have to choose between writing one of my books, and writing a post, I’ll chose my books every time, especially now. I resolved to have two books come out in 2016, and I’m trying my best to get Hunter’s Moon done at a good pace. Sadly, I’ve been so busy lately I’ve even slacked off in the writing arena.

So here’s a somewhat personal update; I am busy, and incredibly distracted because of it. I think voting for The Final Calling to win a Summer Indie Book Award started on the 1st, and will end in like 2 days now, but I haven’t even made any posts to notify anyone or ask for votes (which, you can vote if you’d like by clicking on the link there). It honestly doesn’t matter to me if I win or lose, and I’ll be blunt here (forgive me lol) but voting in such a manner has always seemed like a popularity contest to me instead of a measurement of actual skill or enjoyment. But the bottom line is that I’m just thrilled someone actually thought of me, and the fact that I completely forgot The Final Calling was even nominated shows how far out in left field I’ve been recently.

So I wanted to apologize to everyone. Some days, all I want to do is focus on writing my stories. I’m a huge introvert at heart, which does nothing to help with networking and building an author platform for myself, but at the end of the day, I’m not entirely sure how much that truly matters. Sure, every author wants recognition for their work to some degree, and I’d love to reach more readers who would hopefully enjoy the stories I write. Yet, and until I’m in a more financially sound situation to invest in promoting my work and building the platform I need to do so, I’ll be stuck axing the regular blog posts in favor of making basic updates such as announcements for when my stories are going to be published or on sale and whatnot.

In the meantime, I hope everyone else is having an easier time of it, and I’ll be by whenever I get the chance to try and entertain everyone with more of my lame jokes and weak opinions! :P

Cheers! :D

Learn More About The Crucible Paranormal Romance Series

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Romance Clickbait

I hate clickbait. No, wait, I loathe clickbait with every fiber of my being. Not only is it just annoying to come across, it’s pretty much the epitome of sensationalism, which is harmful. Sadly, as it’s come to pass, facebook is clickbait central, and I’ve gotten so tired of seeing these types of headlines I’ve unfollowed pages for linking such ads.

And they’re all the same thing (which is why it’s so annoying). For example, you’re scrolling and see, “This man was struggling to keep his job, but what his wife does to help is brilliant!” Or you’ll see, “High school student tries to help a kid being bullied. What happens next will shock you!”

And I’m just sitting here like “Make it stop, make it stop, MAKE IT STOP!” Sure, the stories (in some cases) are true, and some of them are probably really good tales that could make your day. But the fact that a third party is trying to make money off of them just … UGH.

Anyway, clickbait is nothing new, and it’s not really something I came here to talk about in specific. In fact, this is kind of a spur of the moment post I wanted to make because I’ve been seeing a specific type of clickbait lately, and good lord, I’m seriously hoping it’s not becoming the newest trend in book marketing; Romance Clickbait.

Basically, I’ll scroll down my dash now, and see a promotional image for some book with the caption, “This single dad will melt your heart, AND your panties!” Or “Alpha male seeking mate won’t give up, and drives women wild!” You know, if this is the new and acceptable way to market your books, consider me content to sit in obscurity with a handful of readers because I’d rather shoot myself in the foot than have ads like “Draconian seeking curse box stumbles across strange mortal. What happens next will amaze you!” =\

Though, that is kind of funny when I think about it. “Stray lupine wanders into city. What alpha does to help her is swoonworthy!” Or “All this mage wants is her staff, but the one her demon companion offers isn’t the one she expected–and she’s not complaining!”

Okay, I’ve got tears in my eyes from that last one.

But what does everyone think? Is this method of advertising actually acceptable, or should books promoted in this manner be blacklisted and erased from all human memory? (Even as I write this, I’m still laughing at that last phony headline for The Final Calling! XD) Let me know!

Cheers! :D

Learn More About The Crucible Paranormal Romance Series

Books • Book Reviews • The Series • About the Author • Hunter’s Moon Excerpt

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Summer Indie Book Awards and The Romance Reviews

Okay, so I’m sitting here minding my own business, working on a new post for the blog (and various other things) when I get a notification that The Final Calling has been nominated in romance books for the Summer Indie Book Awards! That was out of the blue, though maybe not out of … Blue Moon *rimshot*! :D

Corny joke is corny. My apologies. :P

Anywho, voting for the winners starts on September 1st and ends September 10th, so here’s a big ole GOOD LUCK to all of the nominees!

As for me, I certainly never expected to be nominated for an award, and I’m actually pretty happy just being considered. But if you guys would like to toss a few votes out for me, I wouldn’t complain! :)

In other news, I now have an author page on The Romance Reviews! I’d also highly recommend checking this site out if you’re a reader or a reviewer. Aside from finding a new read, there are a lot of contests and fun stuff, and you can also sign up to review books, which means getting ARCs. Which are free. Did I mention free? Because they’re free. FREE. I don’t think I’ve pushed that point enough, so, ehem … FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! :P

So now that I’ve gotten those updates out of the way (both of which were pretty sporadic) I’ll be going back to working on my new post, which hasn’t been easy because the dreaded B-word is coming this week, so my time is occupied. (For those who don’t know, the dreaded B-word is “Birthday” (mine is Thursday, the 25th) and I’ll likely be drowning my woes in booze and some drunken writing!).

The last note I have to leave here is that I’ve been updating the content files for Blue Moon, Light of Dawn, and The Final Calling. The first two now have previews added to them which should be available soon (though I think Blue Moon’s is already available across all retailers, but don’t quote me on that), and The Final Calling had a glaring typo in the form of a duplicate word that I could. not. deal. with! So I bombed it and yay! No more duplications! :P

Thanks so much guys, and I hope you’re having a great week! Cheers!

Learn More About The Crucible Paranormal Romance Series

Books • Book Reviews • The Series • About the Author • Hunter’s Moon Excerpt

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No Time for Reading!

Before I get started on this topic, I wanted to show off my new banner, w00t!

This time around, I wanted to do something a little grungy, and had an idea for a wall with posters tacked up all over it. So I pieced this together and added a few “news headlines” that, well, I thought were amusing for various reasons. From left to right, top to bottom, they read;

The Secret Lives of Immortals Revealed!

Out-Realm Vacationing – Travel to New Worlds Like The Archmages

Arkin Pack Gets New Alpha

Missing Persons Cases Connected?

Can Vampires Be Trusted? Local Couple to Start New Order

Werewolves Move to Arkin City

What Can Magic Do to Enhance Your Life?

So yep, I had lots of fun with that one!

Anyway, I need to mention a few things potentially coming up in the near-ish future, for example, now, when you buy Blue Moon from certain retailers, it comes with a preview of Light of Dawn. This will be available with all retailers soon, and I’m going to add previews to other books as well!

Next, I’ve been making plans to release another box set, but what books it might contain will be kept under my hat for the moment. Still, keep an eye out for those of you who like getting multiple books at cheaper prices than buying them separately! :)

The last thing I wanted to note is that I actually have some short stories planned for my series. Because I’m nowhere near ready to begin work on them yet, I can’t really say too much about what’s going on or who’s involved. But I can say I would absolutely love to make these stories holiday-centric. In the mood for Halloween? Christmas? That’s what I’m aiming for! :)

Aside from that, I know I’ve been pretty quiet lately, and I hate that I don’t have enough time to come here and make updates on at least a weekly basis. I really do try to (and maybe I’m slightly successful in that endeavor), but I feel that as long as I’m actually working on writing, it’s not a horrible loss.

And believe you me, I AM writing.

Speaking of being busy, let’s discuss the topic of this post, shall we? I’m too busy for consistent blog updates, and as it seems, some people are too busy to read. I’ve seen a lot of that type of talk lately. Everyone has too much to do to find the time to sit down and indulge themselves in a good book–and some of it’s really important stuff! Work, kids, appointments, school, all kinds of things get in the way of leisure time, and when we do finally take that moment to breathe, we’re using it to catch up with friends, watch that show we’ve been meaning to watch, or spend time with our family.

Of course, a lot of people do take that spare moment to read a few pages, but with the sheer volume of comments I’ve seen (primarily on my facebook feed) recently, it got me to thinking about how this type of busy schedule might affect the book market and influence book reading trends. There are literally thousands upon thousands of books available now, many of which are by indie authors alone. So you’re even more unlikely to see sales of your own books, but what types of books are being read. Is this a true indication of what’s “popular” now?

It’s something to consider anyway, and I was wondering, what does everyone hanging out around these parts do? Have you found yourself with little time to read? If so, how often do you get the chance, or what do you sacrifice to actually be able to read more if you’re a glorified bookworm? :D

Let me know! And I hope everyone’s having a great week! Cheers! :D

Learn More About The Crucible Paranormal Romance Series

Books • Book Reviews • The Series • About the Author • Hunter’s Moon Excerpt

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Hunter’s Moon Excerpt

I’d been considering an excerpt to share for a while now, and finally decided on something I thought might be entertaining, particularly to those who’ve read Blue Moon and mentioned an interest in seeing Cade’s siblings getting their own stories. So here it is, the first excerpt from Hunter’s Moon, and please note: This story is a work in progress, and all excerpts are subject to change before the book’s release! (Like always lol :) ).

The moment Emily exited Blue Moon’s parking lot in her sedan, all thoughts of her brother were forgotten. Instead, her focus centered on the drive to her temporary home with a guy who was making her crazy.

For as confusing as Evan’s behavior had been that afternoon, her brother didn’t hold a candle to Caleb Hodgins, who had to be the most difficult man she’d ever tried to understand. It was easy to admit that she was liking him more with each passing day. He had a great sense of humor, and his devotion to family was extremely admirable.

But his reactions to her was the baffling part.

As it stood, there seemed to be two different Calebs, one who was attentive, and the other dismissive. Sometimes, while she was talking, he’d look at her in a way that suggested she could go on forever and he wouldn’t complain. Additionally, she felt so comfortable during their conversations that she rarely held back, and got the feeling he knew ten times as much about her life now as she did his.

But there was never any judgment, just questions and the occasional teasing.

Caleb had also taken an interest in her photography, and seemed genuinely impressed by her skills. While babysitting Taylor on Monday, Emily was sorting through the photos taken during her first day of work to decide which were the best quality, and he’d sat next to her with the baby bundled up against his chest, offering to help.

But that was the attentive Caleb. In contrast, the dismissive one usually closed up completely and walked away without a second look—and it always felt as if he couldn’t get out of her presence fast enough whenever he did.

Coincidentally, this usually happened in a moment when she thought they were getting closer, or he was showing more than just friendly interest. So yesterday, Emily did a little snooping by asking Joslyn more about his past. Of course, her best friend tried to tease her into revealing her motivation for knowing, but Emily managed to avoid the subject by promising she’d talk the moment she actually had something to talk about.

Thankfully, Joslyn relented, and then informed her of some important news; apparently, Caleb’s heart had been broken before, and Joslyn wasn’t convinced he’d gotten over it.

But she didn’t offer the details, feeling Caleb should be the one to fill in the blanks, and Emily agreed, unwilling to let her snooping go so far that it took her to a place she didn’t belong.

Still, she had to wonder if this history was affecting their current standing, or if they even had a standing whatsoever. Caleb had admitted to having a number of flings in the past few years, so maybe commitment was the problem, and he didn’t want to get hurt again, or just lead her on.

Pulling up the long drive up to his home, Emily considered the possibility, and found herself wondering for not the first time that week if she should make an actual move and see how he responded. The only reason she hadn’t yet was all of the mixed signals. Did Caleb find her interesting? Or even attractive?

She wasn’t sure, and only knew a spark had been lit on her end. So all that remained to be seen was whether it would fizzle out, or make it to the fireworks. And I definitely wouldn’t mind some fireworks, so why not take the chance?

Emily wasn’t the most straightforward woman alive, but she was comfortable enough to put herself out on a limb, and besides, she’d be going back to the duplex soon anyway. Conner and Joslyn had informed her of their decision to return the previous night, and with them around, staying in her apartment would be much safer.

This meant she and Caleb wouldn’t have to be around one another for too much longer if her advances somehow messed things up.

So, with the decision made, she parked in front of the house and looked up to realize Caleb was outside, working on his renovations again. All week long, he’d been busy building a balcony onto the second level guestroom—and today, he was working in a white racerback stained with dirt and sweat. Why is that so damned attractive?

Emily thoughtlessly stared as he carried a few short beams of lumber over his shoulder and across the yard. Her eyes trailed over his muscular arms and down to the jeans hugging his generous ass along the way. I just hope taking a chance goes well because damn, that physique alone is too good not to try.

Caleb soon dumped the wood into a pile and stood straight, his arms flexing while the sinew of his broad shoulders rolled fluidly. In the process, Emily spied a tattoo on the back of his left shoulder consisting of a wolf’s head with a full moon encompassing it, and suddenly wanted to know if he had any other designs hidden beneath his clothes.

Either way, the man had a body straight out of a dream—an unrealistic one if her ex qualified as average. Rob was slender with what she’d considered nice arms and a tight ass. But the sight of him alone had never set off any lusty feelings, or at least, not the kind she didn’t think she could resist.

Staring at Caleb, on the other hand, did things to her. Racy things. Specifically in the pants.

Emily sighed at the thought, wondering if she should let her hormones calm down before doing any flirting.

No, no, I’m not putting this off. She wanted to know what her chances were, or if a chance was even available, and gave herself a once over in the rear view. Thankfully, her curly hair wasn’t so wild it looked like she’d been in a hurricane, and her makeup was fresh despite a day’s worth of work.

So she ran a brush through her blonde locks, then took a deep breath and climbed out of her vehicle, hoping attentive Caleb was in right now.

Otherwise, she was probably about to trip over her own two feet.

One thing Caleb could say in favor of Emily’s stay at his home was that he’d gotten his renovations done much faster than he’d originally planned.

But keeping busy was paramount to keep his instincts from bowling him over considering they were all focused on his temporary roommate with a rapidly growing intensity. It’d only been a week, but he couldn’t count the number of times he’d nearly said or done something impulsive that would’ve made the situation worse.

Caleb hated to admit it, but he knew the time for hoping he’d only develop a passing interest in Emily Sterling was long past. It was getting to the point that he couldn’t stop thinking of her, always fighting with himself not to ask questions or look for ways to get closer.

But the worst part of all was knowing his fixation was already as strong as the one he had with Fiona. There was just one difference; with Fiona, as soon as he’d realized his growing attachment was strengthening, he’d asked for permission to expose the truth about what he was. With Emily, he’d neglected to even mention his interest, throwing himself into whatever chore was available to stay busy and ignore it—costing himself sleep, patience, and if this kept going, his appetite.

The fact that he could still eat with relative ease made it difficult to say if bonding was in full swing yet. But if it wasn’t now, it soon would be, and he’d even considered leaving town for a while to try avoiding it.

Still, such an act would’ve been pointless considering his troubles would only be waiting whenever he returned, so Caleb ultimately decided against it.

With the thoughts in mind, he walked outside just as the sound of Emily’s car pulling into the driveway hit his ears, and briefly glanced in that direction after dumping some excess wood into a pile in his front yard.

Seeing the human, his brows drew together in confusion. Was Emily checking herself out in the rear view? What was the point of that? She could shave her head and wear clown makeup and still be a knockout.

Grumbling at the notion, he headed for a bottle of water he’d left sitting on the picnic table nearby, and Emily soon climbed out of the car and walked over with a greeting.

“Hey, Caleb. Been busy?”

“Just got done, actually. The balcony’s safe to stand on now, it just needs some tarnish.”

As soon as she reached him, Emily looked up to survey the structure standing above his garage with an approving smile. “Nice, how’s the view from up there?”

“Trees get in the way a little, but you can see a lot of the city, especially at night,” he qualified, sitting on the surface of the picnic table with his boots against the bench seat where he uncapped his water and took a swig.

“You know, I’ve been here for a week, and still haven’t gone upstairs,” she smirked. “I’ll have to check it out when I go inside.”

“Be my guest,” Caleb remarked, fighting to stay where he was when Emily sat down next to him on the tabletop.

The close proximity made it difficult to focus on anything casual, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from impulsively complimenting her instead of asking, “So how’d things go with your brother?”

“Oh,” she drew out, her expression growing perplexed. “Actually, really weird.”

“How so?”

“He was nice to me,” she admitted. “Could be a fluke cause it’s been so long since we saw each other, but hey, I’ll take fake civility over intolerable asshole any day.”

Caleb grinned, qualifying, “And at least he’s gone, right?”

“Yeah, but he wants to visit again the next time he comes through. He’s also talking about keeping in touch more.” She sighed. “I wanna give him the benefit of a doubt, but … ”

“Once bitten, twice shy,” Caleb supplied, and she immediately nodded in agreement. So he added, “That’s natural. I’d be wary, too. But if push comes to shove, you can always tell Joslyn.”

“Why should I tell her?”

Because it’ll get back to me, and I’ll rip him apart. Caleb pushed the impulsive thought away and casually shrugged. “So she can help if you’re in trouble.”

“Oh, right.” Emily nodded in understanding. “Don’t worry, I won’t keep my mouth shut about it.”

“Good. So uh …,” he trailed, searching for something friendly to chat about, and finally settled on asking, “how was work?”

“Oh, fun,” she related with an amused grin. “I got a prank call from some kid wanting to know if we had a camera big enough to take a picture of his dick.”

Caleb almost choked on his water, sputtering, “What?”

“Yep.” She chuckled.

“Damn, that sounds like something one of the guys I know would do. What did you tell him?”

Grinning, Emily answered, “I said I wasn’t sure if I could find a camera with the zoom capability needed to get those types of macros. When he asked what a macro was, I explained the art of taking pictures of tiny objects to make them look bigger. Then I hung up.”

Caleb leaned back against the table, unable to stifle his laughter, wishing the entire while that Emily didn’t have such a kick ass sense of humor when all he wanted was to find her mundane. But not only was her wit attractive, her scent was getting to him again, making him feel the need to get some room to breathe and clear his head before he actually did something impulsive.

So, with a final huff of breath, he stood from the table to go inside, though every step taken away from Emily had his gut clenching tight with the desire to turn around and stay—or preferably get even closer.

But Emily was already following him, asking in a change of subject, “So what about your day?”

Caleb was so preoccupied with his thoughts that it took him a second to respond. “Bland and boring. Just stuck around here building.”

“Yeah? Maybe that’ll change now.”

Stopping to open the door to the porch, he looked back and asked, “Change how?”

“Well, I’m here, and you’re done with your work. So we could go out and do something fun.”

Caleb hesitated to ask what she meant, afraid she was implying more than her simple suggestion spelled out, and decided the best way to keep it casual was by asking, “Like what?”

“I don’t know,” she retorted. “Oh, wait! I pass this arcade on my way to work everyday that looks like fun. You know anything about it?”

The arcade? Emily could’ve said anything, from going out to eat, to visiting the local museum—the first place Fiona ever asked him to go—and it wouldn’t have really phased him. But instead, she had to ask about his favorite place in the city aside from the annual carnival that came through town which he never missed, and was due to return in a few weeks.

Still, the arcade was just like it. It simply possessed video games instead of booths and a miniature golf course instead of rides. Ice cream, funnel cakes, and all kinds of food-on-a-stick were a part of the menu, and Caleb never turned down a chance to go.

Until now.

“Yeah, I know about it. Kind of a big hangout for kids, though.”

Just before turning to go inside, he saw Emily’s disappointed frown, which made his denial feel that much worse. Damn it, he wanted to take her out, and win her a stuffed animal or … whatever the hell she wanted. In fact, just the idea of having fun with an awesome person after so many days working or throwing himself into renovations was nearly enough to make him change his mind regardless of his fears.

“Aw, come on,” she drew out, playfully grabbing his arm and rushing onto the porch ahead of him to block his path before he could open the front door. Then, with a mischievous grin, she taunted, “I bet I’d kick your ass at any game we play.”

Her boast had the corners of Caleb’s mouth lifting in a grin despite his conscious efforts to keep this casual. “You don’t even know what games they have.”

“No, but I’m a damned good gamer, Caleb. I pick up on controls really fast.”

Smirking, he backed her toward the door, forgetting himself completely when he asked, “Is that so? Then you should know I’m no slouch, either. I know how to time things just right.”

Emily giggled, and damned if he didn’t want to hear that sound as often as possible.

As her back hit the door, she inquired, “What would you want if you won?”

Everything, starting with a kiss, he thought, leaning until she was boxed in before drawing out suggestively, “I can think of a few things.”

As their gazes held, Emily’s smile slowly faded into a look of extreme interest, and Caleb’s heart picked up it’s pace in response. She is interested! The desire to lean in and capitalize on it was too strong to ignore, her expression so damned beguiling that all he could think about was showing her exactly how it affected him.

So he leaned closer, moving slowly despite the way his instincts were clamoring within him, their lips only a breath apart …

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Facebook Flash Giveaway!

Anyone up for a giveaway where everyone wins?

Visit this post on my facebook page, like it, and comment with the name of the ebook in The Crucible Paranormal Romance Series you’d like to have by August 10th at 6:00 PM EST, and I’ll choose a Grand Prize Winner via random.org who will get all 5 ebooks! Everyone else will get the ebook they requested in their comment! Winners will be contacted via facebook private message!

Thanks for entering everyone, and feel free to follow me on facebook for more flash giveaways! :)

Cheers! :D

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No Shame in Romance

Somewhere within the time frame of “last week”, I was talking with a friend about how some people are ashamed of reading romance novels, possibly thinking of it as a guilty pleasure. This, in turn, led me to thinking about my role as a romance writer, not just a reader, and had me wondering if some authors of the genre, or even authors who’d like to write something in the genre, ever experience the same type of shame.

In the past several years, this attitude that reading/writing romance is shameful has alleviated a bit, though it hasn’t vanished completely, especially in personal settings (i.e., around family and friends). For example, I have a number of family members who don’t know what I write in specific (and I’m fairly sure some of them don’t know I’m a writer at all). This isn’t because I’m ashamed of the genre I’m writing, but more or less a question of content and being reluctant to let my mother read a story I’ve written descriptive sex scenes into! Not that my mom doesn’t know what I write. She actually owns my first three books in paperback! I simply told her that if she reads them, she’ll have to be wary of the naughty bits, because they are there and I refuse to hide it.

But let’s say you’re out in public, and you just purchased a romance novel with a cover/title that shows it. Would you crack it open and read while waiting on the bus? Or would you decide to wait until you were home? Would you have the stones to buy it in the store to begin with? Or would you rather look it up online?

Believe it or not, I’ve seen several people state that they’d rather wait until they were alone, regardless of their love of reading, before diving into the story, all because the cover or title would give everyone a hint of what it is they’re getting into. This may not be a problem for a romance with a cover featuring scenery and an ambiguous title such as, I don’t know, Going for Broke or something similar.

But a man’s pecs, abs, and low slung jeans on the cover of a story called Ride Me?

HOW SCANDALOUS!

Perhaps a lot of this has to do with the way society at large views sex, and how most of us have been taught to hide or avoid topics related to sex, specifically in public–which is all well and good. But getting that scalding sense of indignity when a friend sees a book on your shelf entitled Do Me Dirty and starts ridiculing you for it is an entirely different story.

So the question becomes this; What’s so shameful or wrong with it?

Really think about it. Why is it so terrible to read a story about romance? Companionship, love, trust, and/or acceptance is something a vast amount of the world’s population wants to find, and it’s always nice to sit down and read a tale that involves people looking for the same things. Seeing how it all comes together in the face of adversity is enjoyable, and yet it almost seems as if that’s the very reason someone would be ridiculed. “Oh, you like those books, huh?” Or “Why don’t you try reading a real story for a change.”

That last one makes me hot under the collar like whoa–but! Different topic for another post!

The point is there’s really no shame in reading romance, and whatever’s left of this attitude that it’s somehow not a “real” genre of fiction or in any way lacking in comparison is what needs to change. So I wanted to post something for anyone who’s so inclined to use that might show off their love of reading romances regardless of the genre, which is located above. (Feel free to snag this image if you’d like :) ).

I’d also thought about making some smaller, static images for different genres, which I will if I get enough requests/the time!

Thanks so much guys, and I hope you enjoy your weekend! Cheers! :D

Learn More About The Crucible Paranormal Romance Series

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